Government Contracts

It was June 2013, and I had just published a major expose in The Star-Ledger about how one of New Jersey's most politically connected engineering firms parlayed secret -- and illegal -- campaign donations into millions of dollars in government contracts.

Every day, all across the country, thousands of businesses put their companies in jeopardy when they rush to sign contracts. They don't read them, they don't understand them and they are not prepared for the consequences.

For those who believe in a society, that to some degree we are all in this together, there are three choices: resist change, stagnate or progress. So far, no one has discovered how to progress without the institutions of government.

Trafficking in persons takes different forms. It might be forced labor, sex trafficking or bonded labor, to name a few examples. We now have people enslaved than at any time in human history, with estimates ranging from 12 to 27 million people.

Maybe it was the fact that the administrator was forced to resign and two employees were fired. Truth be told, a lot of administration heads should probably resign. These abuses are not unique to the Obama administration; they've gone on for decades.

The Small Business Administration shouldn't be in the business of telling us how to run our business. There are plenty of highly qualified professionals out there to provide this kind of help. The SBA should be in the business of helping us do business with the Federal government.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has a cadre of talented staff whose goal is to help small-business owners succeed. Yet, if there was ever a way to tell someone to not go into business, their newly redesigned website is it.